Is all inclusive food actually good or just cheap and easy?

My partner is extremely fussy and hated our first Ai holiday, however after we’ve now been to a couple he loves Ai and states says that first holiday must have been a dupe, we find them so much easier with the kids and it means I don’t have to look at my purse and work off if we’ll have enough money for food if I book a trip or buy the kids a water gun.

It depends on where you go. Some very bad examples out there. Stayed in India 5 star hotels recently including meals - out of this world. But - lots of discerning Indian guests - 5 star meant 5 star as in places that international diplomats stay. Sometimes it's the in-country rating that isn't on a oar with our own domestic version.

The ones with buffets are never going to be good food and the general experience is not something we enjoy with people wandering around all the time. So we avoid those. We went to Unico 20 87 in September 2020 (during COVID) because it was a really good deal. It’s all-inclusive and adults only (another requirement for us) but it’s individual restaurants with menus. The quality and ambiance were both perfect.

It definitely varies, had some AI holidays where food was excellent, others wher3 it was decen5 but not great, fortunately not had any that were actually bad

All inclusive i find is;
In the med - cheap food and drink for the masses.
In the Caribbean or Mexico - much better quality.

I very much view AI food as a cost effective way of being fed rather than ‘meals out to enjoy.’

We stayed at one in France that was fantastic, one in Tenerife that was very good and one in Fuerterventura that was nice. On the other end of the scale, one in Turkey that was awful. We usually go for the convenience, rather than the food quality. If it's good that's an added bonus.

I tend to mainline the salads, bread, veg and fish and always do pretty well.

But we also tend to use AI as a base - all drinks, breakfasts and about 50% of other meals covered for the cost of just a couple of meals out.

I think 5* is more about what facilities they are than quality?

PS I tend to join the Facebook groups for anywhere I plan to go and then you find out a bit about these things

We went to one in Greece where I thought the food was really good, although some people still complain about it in reviews.

It was the Blue Lagoon Princess in Halkidiki.

If you want really top quality food I think you have to go for really top end like the Ikos chain.

I find the travellers photos on review site really helpful too. It's not everything, but you get a pretty good idea of what the food is like just looking at the pics.

We've mostly had excellent food but that's booking luxury 5. Quality of food is first and foremost when looking at reviews before booking. We've had one where the food was mediocre but was a 4.

@Z0rr0 yep - just saw your post after I had posted mine.

I do think some of this too is very dependent on to what standard and variety you eat at home.
ive seen places raved about where I thought food was very samey and bland and whilst fresh and lots of it wasn’t actually tasty or of great quality ( even breakfasts) - but others thought it was amazing . I like cooking and good quality ingredients and as there’s now only the 2 of us can afford to do so - hence my opinion on great food won’t necessarily be someone else’s who us on a tight food budget feeding 5 . Which is one reason I don’t go AI but as others have said I would look at negative comments too - because the negatives might be positives for you .

Most people wouldn’t know good food if it bit them on the arse. So many times I’ve fallen foul of local people raving about the ‘best curry / Thai / Chinese I’ve ever eaten’ and when you visit it’s the same generic boring food as every other restaurant. It seems like very few people actually have good taste buds or can recognise specific flavours in their food. Happy for them, obviously, if they’re delighted with every meal they eat, but if I’m spending money I like food that tantalises the tastebuds and makes you really savour the blend of flavours.

I have stayed in a few AI hotels, mainly going to the buffet restaurant every night - because we needed no planning, while restaurants needed booking.

The food was surprisingly good! I did research and avoided the ones with photos of buffets that didn't seem appealing, so it wasn't random.

Maybe not Michelin star gourmet - it's a buffet - but with different menus every night, always stations for meat/ fresh fish/ etc, food was cooked perfectly and to your liking, many different salads, choices of seafood, vegs, and choices of themed dishes (I don't know, paella, tajine, beuf bourguignon, spring rolls..)

I have been very pleasantly surprised, and I don't agree that it's necessarily "cheap and easy". What is easy is the choice so everyone can find what they like. There's usually always some pizzas which at worst could feed my child, and what child doesn't like the table of bread and cheese .

It's not cheap of course, but neither are decent restaurants.

I found the AI food in Montenegrin hotels to be very good - very much based on local cuisine. However, some other British tourists complained about it.

Yeah but half the time the food is those restaurants is available in the buffet anyway, unless it’s one you have to pay extra for.

The food at an all inclusive in generally pretty naff unless you are in a mega expensive resort, and not just expensive because you are being ripped off due to it being the school holidays. Also 5 doesn’t mean much beyond what is classed as 5 within that country … if it’s a 5* family resort in the middle of the 6 weeks holidays you can be the food won’t be great. We’ve stopped going all inclusive for that reason.

It's always the people who have never actually been that have the strongest opinions about what all AI hotels are like.

Some offer far more than nuggets. You can get local food, some of it quite “interesting” when I accidentally ate a paella that was labelled as just rabbit paella when it also contained tripe. And the grill stations are really good imo. I’ve had some of the best meat and sea food that I’ve ever enjoyed from those.

Also you can eat out too if you like. I always do though last time the hotel buffet was better than the local restaurants that we tried. But obviously I didn’t get to sample every restaurant.

I think it’s convenient and people can eat as much as they want, can see the benefits with kids. But, I’m not going to do that anymore….my youngest is 19… so don’t have to worry about convenience any more! We will just go for villas in the future I think, can still eat relatively cheaply if don’t feel like dining out!

Totally with you though, bland food, not much real variation day to day…end up eating the same thing every night!

a place is never all inclusive and 5 star at the same time. All inclusive = cheap mass tourism, 5 star = exclusive resort

Not for us even when kids were little. Part of the joy of visiting different parts of the world for us is exploring and finding places to eat locally…don’t see the point of paying to travel overseas and eating nuggets, burgers, western fast food selections etc..don’t even like those kind of things when at home!